Re: newbie queston: why would anyone use Oracle?

PJ6 wrote:
> I spent years developing with SQL Server, now I'm learning Oracle. It's like> twice as expensive, seems to me a lot harder to maintain. I never ran into> something I couldn't do in MS SQL - why exactly would anyone go through the> extra expense and hassle of using Oracle instead? I'm not asking to get> anyone mad - I'd just like to know a bit more about how Oracle is different> (and supposedly better) to make my transition make a little more sense.>> TIA,> Paul

Firstly, don't confuse purchase cost with cost of ownership or you'll
make some big mistakes. It's a fact that most people don't buy
databases even if we database professionals wish that they did.
Businesses more often buy into complete solutions in which databases
are part of a much bigger picture. So return on investment doesn't come
solely or even principally from the database product.

On the other hand, if you have millions of dollars and hundreds of
developers invested in one platform or technology then the barriers to
switching products are very high and the cost of taking on a new
technology may be prohibitive relative to the benefits of one database
over another.